Over the years past in the Pacific NorthWest, many farmers attempted to grow apple, peach, pear, ect. orchards in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range. Sometimes in fairly remote areas off the beaten path. While a few of these orchards are still in operations, the vast majority were abandoned many years ago. In some cases a 100 years ago or more.

These trees are still growing in a stunted manner. Depending on a high water table or the ample rainfall on the west (wet) side of the Cascades. So they do still produce fruit. Not as much of a yeld if the trees were cared for. And may produce some wormy fruit from the lack insectacides, but still eatable to many animals.

Each time I travel over the passes and drive thru the foothills, I see these these old and abandoned orchards. And while I know that deer and elk feed on the ripe (and sometimes, not so ripe) fruit hanging on the trees, I wounder if The Big Guy may also use these these old trees as part of their diet.

I also wonder if the experience with apples, ect. may be a contibuting factor whey these fruit are better recieved as bait in these areas, than they may in other areas where tree fruits are more foreign to the creature.

That's a good point about habituation and food supply.
And the fact that a lot of agricultural land has been more or less abandonned in the less commercially viable locations over the years and are now providing the kind of habitat that deeply shaded forests dont. Reports of BF in orchards seem to be not all that uncommon...and an association with their prey would be a natural one that would naturally to draw their attention when the season's right. I've heard of animals evidently attracted to fruit in the fall when fermentation had btaken place and the story seemed to indicate that the animals rather relished the experience. I can understand a survival advantage in being able to survive a slight case of alcohol poisoning once in a while...and even enjoying it.

I have always listed abandoned/remote orchards as possible food sources. An orchard on the edge or within a heavy fir/tree cover area would be an excellent spot for a game cam or two. You might be surprised at the amount of fruit on some of the older and hardier apple trees.

Redwolf

That's a great idea about placing a game cam near an old orchard Redwolf. There's an old apple orchard in one of the areas I've been watching and I've noticed that many of the trees still produce quite a bit of fruit. In fact, I picked some of the apples and canned them this year. Think I'll try a camera there next season.

You might want to keep your eyes peeled while scrounging around out in the woods not near any orchards as well. On the 40 acres I lived on in Oregon, nowhere near any orchards, I had two apple trees growing mixed in among the douglas firs and madrone trees. The only thing I can think of is that the seeds must have been dropped there possibly by a bird or other animal that had found an apple some place then the seeds germinated. Or possibly the seeds escaped too much damage in the digestive tract and were simply dropped within a stool and germinated. I didn't see any evidence of them attracting the big guy, but they did attract bears. So even if you don't get the ultimate BF pic on your gamecam, you might get some great bear shots in the PNW.

I should also mention that a lot of homesteaders would plant one or two apple, pear or peach trees (and things like grape vines) in the back yard for eatting and canning. A lot of these old homesteads were also abondoned years ago. So while the house may or may not exist, many times the old trees do.

Game cams are a good idea. But due to the limited time the trees are in harvest, it is a good place for human observation. It's not a place for year round study as much as areas that you can concintrate on for a couple of summer and fall months. Then move on to other areas after the fruit has fallen and decayed.

I have a personal interest in this as my family had orchards in the greater Yakima Valley and on the Yakama Indian Reservation. About 68 acres in apples and peaches, but mostly cherries. With an additional 29 acres of scrab lands for the water rights. So I have a natural interest when I drive past all these old former maintained orchards.




(remember around here the city, county, river and mountain is = yakIma, while the tribe, reservatiion and tribal owned CBA basketball team is = yakAma. The original spelling in the Treaty of 1857. So you have the Yakama Sunkings play in the Sundome in Yakima)

It makes sense that BF may eat from the trees. Black bears REALLY do. These old orchards are a great place to find/hunt bears so watch out. It's also not a bad place to find old varieties of fruit (especially apples) that are great, but no longer available.

17x7

It might make for a convenient source of food for a Biggie, but I doubt that any would be dependent on it. Given that they do not seem to live in large groups and the fact that they would have evolved to fit the environment, I am certain that they would do just fine without these orchards. For spotting purposes though, they might make for good strategic locations.